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CINNAMON RED,

562-4, Moseley Rd, B’ham B12, 9AD, tel. 442-4936)

On the latest leg of his balti tour, Andy Munro gives Cinammon Red a card of the same colour.

Formerly Spice Avenue, Cinnamon Red was recently (apparently) a runner up in the City Council’s rather questionable ’Best Balti’ competition so I was obviously expecting great things.

It was certainly a decent start with a trio of dips to accompany the poppadoms – mango, raitha and a smooth green dip which had a definite but subtle kick.We were originally going to opt for ‘Crispy Prawns’ but these weren’t available and so we shared a Chicken Tikka and Meat Samosas.

The Tikka contained good sized chalky breast meat but in flavour terms, it was quite frankly dull.The accompanying onions were also disappointingly on the tough side rather than being sautéed to caramelisation which I much prefer. As regards the Meat Samosas, I would describe them as ‘conference buffet’ standard – a bland filling in the dreaded filo pastry which shattered into fragments at the first bite.

For mains I went for a Balti Ginger Chicken whilst my partner went for Tandoori Butter Chicken which she decribed as a bit like cream of tomato soup in its blandness.

Mine was similarly overpowering in the tomato stakes and apart from the fresh ginger pieces could have been made with a curry paste as no taste of individual spices shone through.

My ‘Balti’ had obviously been cooked elsewhere and transferred to my bowl which on contact displayed less warmth than Alex Ferguson after losing to Liverpool.In fairness the slightly crisp Garlic Naan was a valiant effort, in the culinary circumstances.

Despite a rather disappointing show, I must point out that the service was excellent throughout and included, for the nostalgic, the traditional curry house serving staples of ice cold lager, a serving trolley and heated handwipes…only the heated dish stands were missing!

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Today's edition of The Stirrer edited by Andy Munro

Andy Munro would like to point out that 'my views are personal and not those of the City Council'